Treifing up the Kitchen

Like every kosher home, we occasionally traif up a fork or spoon, sticking a dairy spoon into hot soup or a meat spoon into cereal. And we have a pretty good system for getting it kosher. We put it to the side, and eventually it gets mixed back into the rest of the silverware.

It might not be the best system out there, but it works.

But then came the crispy American Choice fries. Most of their fries are kosher, but this package was inadvertantly bought. By me. And served twice.

The first time went by without incident. The fries weren't ready on time for dinner, and by the time I rechecked them, they had been burnt. And then came the events of Sunday night.

The fries were ready a bit late, but we were still at the table when they were ready, and I served them as kind of a post-steak snack. We both ate them, and Aviva commented that they were so good, they must not be kosher. Eager to defend the fries, I jumped up, got the package, and showed her the OU. Which, as you have probably guessed, was not on the package.

The Rabbi said we had to separate anything that touched the fries while they were hot, which meant the baking sheet, plates, a serving bowl, and silverware.

Then we began to investigate. We called the company, but they wouldn't say whether the oil in the fries was animal or vegetable based. Local rabbis didn't know, and neith did the OU.

Finally, we got the ruling. We didn't have to toss out the Corelle dishes or the silverware and baking pan. But we do have to do some complicated boiling process.

Anyway, last night, as we sat down to eat, I pulled a sheet of spicy fries out from the oven.

"Are these kosher?" my wife asked.

"of course they are," I told her. "If they weren't I would have used the triaf baking sheet."